1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of cognitive disorders including assessing attention deficits and/or comorbidities, treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and/or conditions with attentional impairment such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety, depression, and epilepsy.
2. Background of the Art
Assessing and treating attention deficits, comorbidities and/or treating other conditions that have attention deficits have fundamentally been a challenge for parents, teachers, and health care providers. For example, there is no specific test for diagnosing attention deficits. Also, there is no aid for differentiating ADHD from conditions that have attentional deficits as a symptom of the disorder. This represents a challenging situation for educators and health care providers. Therefore, the following conditions can be comorbid with ADHD or they may manifest themselves with attentional deficits separately from the disorder.                Learning or language problems        Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)        Anxiety disorders        Mood Disorders        Psychotic Disorders        Seizure disorders        Traumatic brain injuries        Frontal lobe pathology        Vision or hearing problems        Sleep disorders        Dementias        Substance Use Disorders        
Gathering as much information as possible about the individual from disparate sources is currently the best way to diagnose and treat an individual's symptoms. For example, current diagnostic aids used in assessing ADHD are subjective, expensive, time intensive, and provide little information about accessory movements in response to a stimulus. These diagnostics aids make it difficult to identify ADHD, comorbidities, and/or other attentional related diagnoses.
Consider the typical diagnostic aids for ADHD which are reviewed by health care providers to help make a clinical diagnosis. Tests such as the Conners' Rating Scale require subjective responses from parents and teachers, making coordination difficult. The computerized Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT) provides objective data in regards to inattention and impulsive patterns of response. However, it does not provide data regarding accessory movements such as restlessness, hyperactivity, and other inappropriate movements. In addition, it does not give inter-response data. If the subject taking the exam has a reading disorder, it will impair his or her ability to respond accurately and it will increase response time. The T.O.V.A. is another computer based test used as a diagnostic aid for ADHD, which uses a microswitch to record responses. It does utilize auditory and visual stimuli, which removes the reading level limitation. However, it is unable to measure accessory and/or inter-response movements that may be contributing to reaction time and errors of omission and commission.
Upon properly establishing a diagnosis, it is then important to establish a course of treatment. This is vital in both schools and in the medical field. Attentional deficits greatly limit academic aptitude and long term potential leading to the development of some of the common comorbidities such as anxiety and depression. Addressing these symptoms at a young age are cruicial in decreasing these detrimental effects long term.
Medications and talk therapy dominate the treatment course of attentional deficits and overall there is limited availability of cognitive training interventions as a method of treating attentional limitations. Those that exist are frequently delivered on laptops, iPhones, or iPads, do not take into consideration the following because of the devices used:                Detailed behavioral pattern prior to and following response cannot be monitored.        Data collection only takes place on one device, instead of three or more.        Testing attention in response to various degrees of spatial differentiation is not possible.        
The deficiency for data-driven methods which aid in diagnosing and treating these and other disorders, a need exists for a platform which that collects, stores, and analyzes data to reveal patterns in physical and cognitive behaviors.
Further, engaging those with ADHD, ASD and other conditions in their treatment is another barrier to recovery for which an evidence-based tool is necessary. Research shows that games appeal to this barrier and provide this engagement.